On the go and no time to finish that story right now? Your News is the place for you to save content to read later from any device. Register with us and content you save will appear here so you can access them to read later.

It is not the first time National has been accused of conflicts of interest in relation to the Families Commission.

Labour criticised the appointment of chief commissioner Belinda Milnes, who is Cabinet Minister Amy Adam's sister and a former staffer for Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.

Ms Milnes said in a statement today that she had taken advice from the State Services Commission and was confident that the Families Commission's processes were robust.

She said she had made it clear to Dr Parmar that if she won the nomination she would have to stand aside for the duration of the election campaign.

"It is important that public servants and those appointed to Crown Entity boards are able to exercise their rights to stand for political office and I believe that Dr Parmar can manage this in an appropriate manner.''

Ms Milnes said she had listed a conflict of interest in the board register, which meant Dr Parmar could exclude herself from any areas which could have a perceived or actual conflict.